Azure adds lithium to its basket of energy metals at Andover

Azure’s intensive mapping and sampling program has uncovered multiple lithium targets at Andover, enhancing the prospectivity of the nickel-copper-cobalt project in Western Australia.

Its intensive six-month on ground mapping and sampling program returned up to 1.62% lithium oxide with geologists confirming more than 130 outcropping pegmatites along a 8km long corridor.

Individual pegmatites have been found to have surface expressions of up to 500m long and 100m wide while visible spodumene has been identified at multiple locations.

Azure Minerals (ASX:AZS) adds that two pegmatites containing spodumene were intersected in hole ANDD0133, which was originally drilled to test for nickel sulphides at VC-18 East.

Highly anomalous values of lithium (up to 0.41% Li2O), caesium (2,240ppm), rubidium (1.43%) and tantalum (2,780ppm) were returned in several samples from this drill hole.

The lithium-focused geological team is continuing field exploration with further assays pending from additional sampling while its nickel-focused team is continuing drilling at the Seaview and Pipeline prospects.

Managing director Tony Rovira noted that while the company continues to be focused on exploring and developing the nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide resources it has discovered at Andover, it also recognised that spodumene-bearing, lithium-rich pegmatites could add significant value to the overall project and increase its exposure to energy metals.

“While our lithium exploration program is still in its early stages, results received to date have been very encouraging,” he added.

“Field work has confirmed that the Andover Project contains abundant pegmatites containing spodumene throughout the property, and we’ll be continuing to advance this new lithium opportunity with ongoing systematic exploration, including drilling.”

Exploration details

Initial assessment of airborne photographic and radiometric imagery had identified over 500 locations within the Andover project where pegmatites were likely to be present at surface.

That more than 130 of these locations were found to have outcropping pegmatites at surface which corroborated with radiometric anomalism indicates that several hundred more pegmatites could be present at the project.

Several historical artisanal mines and shallow surface workings were also identified in association with pegmatite outcrops with the company’s geologists visually observing the presence of spodumene in-situ within the pegmatite bodies at these areas.

This work found that the overall pegmatite swarm extends widely across the project area, encompassing a zone about 8km long and up to 4km wide in the northeastern part.

Pegmatite bodies typically trend in a southwest to northeast orientation and are generally horizontal to shallow dipping.

Additionally, the strike of the pegmatites is generally parallel with Azure’s richly endowed nickel-copper-cobalt Southern Mineralised Corridor.

Exploration continuing

Lithium exploration is continuing on the Andover project with geological mapping and detailed geochemical sampling of the pegmatite swarm ongoing.

A comprehensive data review and pegmatite classification is underway to prioritise which pegmatites warrant immediate follow-up sampling and mapping prior to drill testing.

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This article was developed in collaboration with Azure Minerals (ASX:AZS), a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.